Race in America

I read a speech that a 16 year old girl said after seeing “Black in America” her speech was called I am neither black nor white. I’m both. The girl Grace Gibson talks about being biracial in America. She felt that her group was underrepresented in the segment and she gave her take on being mixed. In her speech she says “I am proud to be a child born to two loving, talented, creative people – a mother and father who happened to be of African-American and English descent, respectively. I do not feel confused at all nor do I have an identity crisis. I do not feel lost in society nor rejected by any race because I am all races in one.” This stood out to me a lot. She is so positive about her race even though she doesn’t mention some of the hard ships that come with it. I think it is very inspiring that she is only 16 and is so comfortable with herself and who she is. She truly knows what is important in life and that having parents that love you and being healthy are some of the most important things. She felt that “Black in America” focused so much on the negatives of being biracial but there is nothing wrong with it at all. She talked about how inspiring it is to be biracial because you are a mix of everyone. Grace talks about how inspired she is by Barack Obama for being biracial and starting the change revolution where she thinks people are not only looked at based upon the color of their skin.

I read the article “Call My Name adds color to the AIDS quilt” I was drawn to this article because the AIDS quit has visited our school before and I remember seeing and being touched by it. The first sentence in the article reads, “Since the epidemic began, about 42 percent of those diagnosed with AIDS in the United States have been black, but, according to the quilt's curator, fewer than 400 of 47,000 quilt panels honor African-Americans.” This is was really upsetting to me. Almost half of the people diagnosed with AIDS are black yet they barely even make up a significant amount of those being honored in the AIDS quilt. It is very sad that we can find a way to remember the lives of white people who have lost their lives yet we give so little room for blacks to do the same. The article goes on to talks about a new project called Call My Name where they are going around getting more quilts made to remember African-Americans. I think it is a great thing that they are doing. Realizing inequalities and working to fix them is a huge step in trying to make things more equal for everyone. Although I think that this racism is unintentional I still think it is a problem that needs to be addressed, and it is great that they are working towards that goal. A volunteer working with the Call My Name project said a quote that really stuck out to me, "Sometimes people relate the panel to death -- in actuality they are making awareness of people's life." I think that this project is a great way to, not only see the impact the disease has had, but to remember how great the lives were that were lost. It is to remember that they are people too and something needs to be done to stop this disease in the future.

The first quote on the Exploring Race website says “In Lake County, Ind., the minority population grew from 43 percent in 1990 to 53 percent in 2008 as the number of white children declined, the number of blacks stayed stable and the number of Hispanics increased. There are similar patterns across the country, which leads demographers to believe that whites will be in the minority by the middle of the century.” This really stuck out to me because it related to the articles we read in class that said when a certain population that wasn’t diverse starts to become so then the whites move away. I didn’t really believe this when I read it is class and I was shocked to see that there are facts that it is happening within our on community. I think that diversity is a goal we should aim to reach and that the more integration we have the more everyone can learn from each other. I think it is sad that even in Lake County people are against integration and willing to move away from it. The article did go on to explain that, “more Hispanic women of prime childbearing age tend to have more children than women of other races.” After reading that, it is hard to tell whether the article we read in class is correct that people move away from diversity or if the idea that minorities have more children is actually the reason for this. I think that it most likely is a mix between the two and both opinions are right they just result in the same change of statistics.

Mock Trial Recap and Response

I thought the first case was a pretty straightforward example of sexual harassment. It did not matter how vulnerable Elise Roberts was or how bad of an attorney she was the things that Kevin Murphy said would be classified as sexual harassment. Both sides agreed to the remarks he made concerning Elise and the things he did, those alone are sexual harassment. No matter who the victim is of the comments Kevin Murphy crossed the line. Not only were Kevin’s actions considered sexual harassment, but, the way the district attorney’s office handled the situation made it even worse. It is not hard to move an employee to a different office or to sit both sides down and try to come to a conclusion, but none of that was done at all. I think that throughout the case it was difficult to remember it was not Kevin Murphy who was on trial for his guilt but it was a case against the office for how the sexual harassment was handled. Kevin Murphy was clearly guilty of sexual harassment but that was not what was being looked at, it was the fact that nothing was done to help Elise and that she was transferred because the district attorney’s office didn’t want to deal with the problem. I think the most compelling facts in the case was that office had been informed of the problems between Elise and Kevin, they were aware of her absences, and her declining performance. Yet, they still chose to do nothing to address the situation. Her office could have been moved, someone could have talked to her, or her complaints could have been recognized with reprimanding Kevin Murphy. None of that was done which is why I believe that the verdict of guilty was the correct choice because the office was guilty of not handling the situation of sexual harassment in the workplace in the correct manor. In order to reach a different outcome I think I would need to see evidence that Elise and Kevin may have gone on a date or two and were starting a relationship and maybe a fight happened that caused Elise to complain and make these accusations after the fact. That is the only thing I can think of that would make this case not considered sexual harassment.

     In the second case I did not really agree with the verdict of not guilty. I think that David Jones clearly did something wrong in the situation. A picture was painted that David clearly had somewhat of a temper and couldn’t take “no” for an answer. With that in mind David put a condom on before anything even happened, showing that he was going to have sex that night whether Susan wanted to or not. While I think that Susan may have made some choices that put her in a bad situation, that by no means allowed David to rape her. I think it would be a different situation if Susan said she had been raped after the fact simply because she regretted her actions but that was not the case. Susan said “no” many times and tried to get up and remove herself from the situation. The most compelling facts were that David put on a condom before anything started to happen, her clothes were not even off, and David could never accept the answer “no” from Susan. For the verdict of guilty to actually have been reached I think the above facts should have been stressed more. I feel that too much time was spent talking about his partner for the project and their relationship and not enough time was spent on the actual facts of the rape.

I think that people should be aware that whether it is a comment, or an action if it makes you feel uncomfortable or threatened you have a right to feel that way. I think that people sometimes feel their reactions are wrong and unjustified, but if something makes you feel a certain way its probably because you should. I don’t think this is too much of a significant problem at DHS. I’m sure that people sometimes feel threatened or targeted in a way that makes the feel uncomfortable but nothing that crosses the line too much. I feel that everyone in our community is basically educated on what is right and what is wrong. Although people may not act on those things 100% of the time I think that everyone knows each other so well that people can make pretty good judgments about a person’s intentions and character.

Wisconsin Unions Fight

(Andy Manis/Associated Press) from the article, "Protestors in Wisconsin Staying Put" in the New York Times.

Wisconsin is a state that has a very progressive history. They were the birthplace of labor unions that gave rights to many citizens and now Gov. Scott Walker wants to take all that away. When the democratic state senators fled the state two weeks ago so that Walker could not pass the bill which would put restrictions on unions they were hoping to negotiate with Walker and find a better resolution for the budget cuts that needed to be made. Since the senators left the state Walker has not given in at all and protestors keep coming to Madison. In the article “Gov. Scott Walker's Secret Weapon: The Wisconsin Veto” in The Atlantic it says that the Madison state capitol has printouts of 10,000 e-mails from Wisconsin citizens to Walker, up and down both sides of the marble staircase, disputing his bill which will strip collective bargaining rights from public workers. The article goes on to talk about the veto power that the governors of Wisconsin hold where they can take out specific words from a bill. The fact that Walker has this power makes it very hard for the Democrats to bargain and negotiate with him. In the Huffington Post article “Wisconsin GOP Leader Targets Democratic Senate Staffers’ Access to Copy Machines” it shows the Walker does not have much power to get the democratic senators back to Madison. He already sent state troopers to their houses, where they did not find them, and he cut off the wire transfer of their pay check so they can only get it if they come into the capitol. Originally Walker set a deadline that state workers would start being laid off if they did not return by Friday, but that deadline passed, and on Sunday he changed the deadline to Tuesday. After Walker’s recorded phone call, with a blogger that was posing as David Koch, Walkers plan was revealed as to how he was going to get the senators back. This got in his way and it does not seem like the democrats have any plans to return to Wisconsin. Now, the Republicans are pressuring their staffers by banning their use of copy machines.  One Democratic staffer commented on this by saying, "I'll guess we'll just have to scan things."

            I think it is very noble what the protestors are doing by standing up for what is right. I don’t understand how Walker can be so close-minded about any negotiations in his bill when there are so many committed Wisconsin citizens. Even if he disagrees with their point of view it is the responsibility of the government to be “for the people, and by the people” by ignoring tens of thousands of his citizens he is not doing his job. It seems like government is losing sight of the reasons it was put in place in America. It was established so that everyones voice was heard an a monarchy or dictatorship did not rise. Democracy is supposed to allow all opinions to be heard and considered. By Walker smily dismissing his citizens views and not even bothering to listen he is not doing his job as the Governor of Wisconsin.

The Help: Ending

At the end of the book two maids lose their jobs, a maids husband loses their job, and nothing happens to Skeeter, the white woman who wrote the book. In fact, Skeeter gets her dream job in New York and moves away leaving the maids to deal with the consequences. Although I really enjoyed the book the ending seemed just too happy for me. In a time where there are so many risks with writing a book of maids secrets it seems so usual that the white woman moves away and avoids all repercussions of her book while only 1 of the 8 maids interviewed looses her job. It seems to continue the stereotype of the time that blacks are the ones who suffer for the whites. And actually the repercussions should be worse, it just seemed like the ending was too happy. I do think the ending did a good job of following up with each of the characters and where they left off. But there was not enough on Aibileen. She just leaves Mae Mobley, the child who she has raised, crying in the kitchen. Aibileen loved Mae Mobley and hated the way her mother treated her daughter, and she was just able to walk away from Mae Mobley like that knowing she was the only hope Mae Mobley had to be loved. Although the ending seemed realistic in some way and unrealistic in others I would still recommend the book to anyone. It taught me a lot about how things used to be in the United States and the way our society has progressed and the things we still need to work on. It is amazing that we denied such basic rights to people and fought so hard to make our country more equal. This book painted a pretty realistic picture of the South during the 1960’s and I would recommend it to anyone looking to learn something or if they just want to read a good book. 

The Help: #5

My favorite character in The Help was Aibileen. She was able to find the good in anyone and wanted to help them find it in themselves. She was the nanny for Mae Mobley. Mae Mobley’s mother had very little patience for her and her daughter understood that. Often Mae Mobley would get upset when this happened so Aibileen would tell her often, "You is kind. You is smart. You is important." Aibileen wanted to find a way to make Mae Mobley feel loved when her mother couldn’t do that for her. Since she always knew there would be a time when the children she raised would being to see her as her color, often the time she stopped working for a family, she wanted a way to make sure Mae Mobley would always have the confidence she needed. Aibileen was a very mother like character. She would watch out for everyone and people would often come to her if they had a problem. Even the worst character in the book, Hilly, Aibileen found the good in, she noticed that she was a good mother and treated her kids well, unlike some of the other mothers in Jackson. Aibileen is the character who you feel like you know by the end of the book and if you don’t you would want to meet her.  She has a great outlook on life no matter how many obstacles she runs into and I think that anyone who reads the book will end up admiring her for her determination, care, and love for everyone that surrounds her. 

The Help: #4

When my mom and her 5 siblings were growing up they had a figure similar to the ones we see in the book. Her name was Julia. Julia was like a second mother to all the kids and when my cousins and I were born she helped raise us too. Julia has always been a part of my life, when I was born she was already a part of the family and almost all of the memories my mom and her siblings share Julia is in. I see the similarities between Julia’s relationship with my family, but one thing that really disturbed me was how the women in Jackson seemed to recycle their “help.” They would make connections and then fire these women who were part of their lives and family. Julia died a week ago but she would always come to our family events, we would visit her often, and we would talked on the phone. When I was at Julia’s funeral a few days ago her friends, which I didn’t know, came up to me and said they had heard so much about me and that Julia talked about us all the time. It made me feel good to know that we impacted her as much as she impacted all of us in our own way. Julia and my relationship reminded me a lot of the relationship Skeeter had with Constantine, her maid growing up. Skeeter loved Constantine the way every maid in the book wanted to be loved by the children they raised. I know the book was set in the 1960’s which is the time Julia started to work for my mom’s family. It really shows the difference between the North and the South. Constantine was a part of Skeeter’s family but her mom had no problem firing someone that was part of the family. The relationship my family all has with Julia shows how different the times used to be in the 1960’s but also how people in the North dealt with the injustices of the civil rights movement.

The Help: #3

One thing that really surprised me was when I found out the book was based only 45 years ago. The way that they treated the blacks during that time made me think that these events could have happened mush before that time. When I first thought about it decided that our society has changed a lot since then, but as I thought about it more I decided that our views have progressed but not much more has. After watching the video about Hurricane Katrina seeing when years before they broke the levies so that the black part of town flooded while the white area remained intact and seeing the same thing happen only a few years ago. Even if the flood from Katrina was not intentional it still showed a disturbing parallel between our country in 1965 to now. There is still an affluent, white side of town, and a suffering, black side of town. Even though there may not be a specific divide anymore it is still generally the same idea today: the poor people in our country have no one really looking out for them. You can see this idea in the book when after Skeeter gets her book published about all the maid’s lives she moves away leaving them to deal with the repercussions. Although all the maids don’t let her turn down the opportunity to move to New York and take an Editor job she still leaves the maids to sort out what will happen now that all their employers have read a book with stories about them inside. It was not Skeeter’s intention to do this to the women who helped her but it still shows how unfair the world can be. Skeeter did not make up the stories she simply put them together and wrote what she was told and that is what caused her to get the big break she always wanted.